aggiedad77 » January 17th, 2015, 11:10 am Saturday News Summaries and CommentariesQuite a bit staring back at us this morning in the way of news already.....thanks guys....oil is in the news, the budget raises it's head again....corruption.....the Kurds....new noise about the Investment Law....bond purchases to cover the deficit....more dirt on Maliki.....and Iran has gas...LOL.....and to top everything off...the last tidbit of news IMO is the best....the dessert perhaps.Energy Minister reveals his visit to Baghdad the day after tomorrow to discuss oil projects

Day after tomorrow, that would be Sunday since this was written on Friday....the Turkish Energy Minister will arrive in Baghdad for discussion pertaining to oil....oil pipelines specifically if this can be trusted....pipeline from Basra to Turkey perhaps tying into the Kirkuk pipeline to Ceyhan, Turkey....tho my experience tells me this is not likely.... ....

The Kurds want all the capacity of that pipeline and would not like sharing it with their brothers to the south....so maybe a separate pipeline from Basra to Ceyhan....but then that will require additional storage tanks at Ceyhan, because the Kurds are fully utilizing the existing storage tanks....one can pack only so much oil within a pipeline system and the storage tanks.....

But a bigger picture that this tells me about is that Iraq is serious about upping its production/export rates....a pipeline of this nature would be the quickest route for them to do this....an overland pipeline can be laid much quicker than building new offshore loading pods....especially when the area of the gulf for this to happen is already somewhat crowded with shipping....good news for all of Iraq for sure.

State law: 17% give Kurdistan prejudice against others

Keep in mind here that the State of Law is for the most part Maliki's mouthpiece....they will stand against anything that PM Abadi and his government pushes forward.....they are claiming that 17% of the budget to the Kurds is unconstitutional....maybe they best restudy the Constitution.....besides, who is listening to them at the moment.

Integrity 2014: ministers are corrupt, most notably the Samurai and the Sudanese Shaalan

The Integrity Commission is not sitting back on its haunches.....they are turning over a number of rocks....some of which are big rocks it would seem....six ministers and 53 general manager types being named in corruption activities to include former Ministers of Electricity, Commerce, and Defense...they have identified some 330 billion dinars and are looking for more....some of the corruption centers around the failure of many ministers not submitting their required disclosures of net worth and financial statements to the required Commission."Resolution": We support the reference in the diagnosis of budget errors and rectify its Abadi

I will say that everyone and anyone is entitled to their opinions of the 2015 budget.....but as I have said before....waiting until after the reading of this budget or any budget is not the time to be openly pushing that opinion....it serves no purpose to the political process, nor to the people of Iraq.....use the time in Parliamentary session to get your points across.....

Is this a perfect budget, no but when is a budget ever perfect....to try and say this government is inexperienced at this sort of thing is child-like complaining....this government is by far more aware of how a budget needs to be built and driven than any government Iraq had seen in the past 10 years.....this kind of rhetoric tells me the people behind it have baseless information to support their noise.Parliament postponed Tuesday's session for one day due to travel parliamentary delegation headed by al-Jubouri to Turkey

Interesting timing indeed.....why would Speaker Jubouri need to be in Turkey for at this point in time when a crucial vote is on the table for the 2015 budget.....just say that the Finance Committee needs and extra day and be done with it....that I could heartily understand....we already know that the Turkish Energy Minister will be in Baghdad on Sunday.....what else might be astir between the two countries that would pull Jubouri into Turkey at the same time.

Abadi Office: The government is working on the preparation of Economic Council to support the investment law

PM Abadi's office says that there is ongoing work with the Economic Council that would support private sector investment law....thus allowing a comprehensive study to be interplayed between public and private sectors.....looking for reforms that would help the private sector and allow the Ministry of Planning to bring forth diversification of incomes and further support of other industries.

So the Defense Minister being sought by the Iraqi Integrity Commission was able to flee into the UAE where he just happens to own a residence.....wonder how that was paid for......something tells me that he can run but he cannot hide.

Conscious / Allawi calls to speed up the enactment of the oil and gas law

VP Allawi is quoted as wanting expediency with the enactment of the oil and gas law....looking to Kirkuk as a scale model of what can happen for all of Iraq....this law has vital importance to all Iraqis....and its completion will see that each Iraqi citizen is given equal treatment under the new law....he is urging all political figures to put the highest importance on passing this law to allow the oil wealth to be distributed equitably among the provinces.

An MP for the Citizen bloc is speaking out that Wednesday will see the vote on the budget....he is saying that the budget has been recalculated to 100 trillion dinars....they apparently have made a number of cuts to arrive at this new figure and have carved some paragraphs out of the draft budget in the process....adding bond sales from the Rafidain and Rasheed Banks to cover any deficit...supposedly not causing any burden on Iraqi citizens....but taxes will be levied against electricity, water and telephone services.....

Also some type of borrowing with the IMF remains a further possibility though I do not see them getting such a loan at this time.....this news has a sense of merit about it....it appears logical and thought out....to me it makes sense in a move for them to get this budget pushed out to the implementation stage at this point.

Kurdish Official: Peshmerga Will Never Withdraw From Kirkuk

A Peshmerga commander is quoted as saying that their army will never leave Kirkuk.....the Kirkuk citizens do not trust any army that left them high and dry....and I can't say that I blame them....the Peshmerga has proven they will defend any and all citizens of Kirkuk and the citizens have been witness to this protection and appreciate the efforts at this point.

Because of lower oil .. Iraq is losing $ 4 billion a month

A current member of the Liberal bloc and a former Minister of Planning is saying that at current levels of production and export Iraq stands to lose $4 billion dollars a month with oil prices in the tank like they are, below $50....they need to up their exports and make further cuts to the budget to overcome the shortfall he says....well this is ongoing as we have seen from articles above....let's see what they bring to the table on Wednesday.

Close to Maliki accused of leaking documents Albarazina condemns al-Maliki, accusing him of giving Kurds two billion dollars in exchange for his survival as prime minister, in an effort to end his political career !!

It would appear that newly leaked documents to the media may indicate that Maliki previously had tried to bribe his way back into office via the Kurds....offering $2 billion dollars to them in return for 100,000 barrels of oil per day....oh how the paper trail leads.....is this an alleged plot by the Kurds to smear Maliki once and for all....or is it the real deal of Maliki's strong desire to stay in office coming out....I'm sure the Integrity Committee will have a heyday with this information.

Iran announces export 50 million cubic meters of gas per day to Iraq and confirm that the Iraqi market suitable

Coming to Iraq through Fries....hold the onions please.....will be 50 million cubic meters of gas per day from Iran.....this amounts to about $13 billion dollars for such a transaction between the two.....this is something that Iraq desperately needs to work towards harnessing for its own use....the natural gas that is burned at the well head each day.....put that to wise and prudent use within the country.A proposal for the property and inventory balances politicians inside and outside Iraq

So it is finally coming to light and into question....where did you get the money to acquire this property....and as for your children and family....please provide that same information.....thuggery and corruption is being lit up on all levels not just political but down to the family unit as well....it is high time.....this has been on the books in Iraq for a couple of years but the former government chose to not address it...surprise surprise....well beware of the legal process and the long arm of the law reaching out to you and yours and beginning to ask some very probing questions....I hope you have receipts.

Iraq is an economic forum to attract capital

Develop a forum as a means to attract capital into Iraq for a variety of purposes....all meant to further economic reform and pump up the private sector....looking for the Economic Commission to establish a firm law and order of things starting with upcoming meetings in Baghdad....we even see Economic Advisor to PM Abadi, Dr. Saleh sticking his head into the arena and offering guidance....stressing the need for the entry of the private sector into the market....they are also working on laws in this direction that should help in bolstering efforts from the private sector as well.The Washington Times: increasing Iraq's oil production will determine the global oil prices

Old news coming from the Washington Times.....they need to get up with the times.....Iraq does have the capacity to determine future oil pricing largely due to the vast pool of untapped oil they sit upon....and yes it will not require a high degree of technical expertise to get the oil to market....but it's also not as simple as just sticking a hole in the ground and watching the black gold come rushing back at you either....they can product massive quantities of oil....but they need an infrastructure in which they can be allowed to market/export the oil and not be bottlenecked due to export limitations...this they are working on and moving forward with on a variety of fronts.

Gda..anakad internal control conference sponsored Abadi

ATTENTION....ATTENTION....TOMORROW WILL SEE AN "INTERNAL CONTROL CONFERENCE" SPONSORED BY PM ABADI....BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY IN MY MIND....THE CBI GOVERNOR WILL BE IN ATTENDANCE AT THIS MEETING....NEVER HAVE HEARD OF SUCH A MEETING....THIS COULD PROVE TO BE MOST INTERESTING.....A FLY ON THE WALL WOULD BE NICE I THINK.

WOW....that is a great way to end the news for now I would think.....hoping we get to see some additional information about this meeting tomorrow and what it could promise.

Dear Aggiedad77,
Iraq is not loosing $4 billion a month. They are simply not making as much. The fact remains that it costs Iraq $2.25 to extract a bbl. of oil out of the ground. Anything above that price is called, "Profit." Lower oil prices mean less profit. However the lower the price the more oil is sold. So would you rather make $10.00 on 10 bbls. =$100.00 or
$1.00 on one million bbls - $1,000,000? It is all in ones point of view.
Take care, stay well and God bless.